The present invention concerns engines being overhauled or repaired incurring the removal of one or more cylinder heads.
When working on air cooled engines it is frequently necessary to remove one or all cylinder heads from the engine block leaving the interior of the engine and piston rod exposed to moisture and airborne matter. It is a practice in some repair shops to close the cylinder or cylinders of an engine being repaired by the stuffing of a clean rag into the cylinder with a portion of the rag or a separate rag applied about the exposed end of a piston rod. Such a solution to the problem is a hit and miss approach to protecting internal parts of the engine as well as the rod end from foreign matter being deposited on engine and rod surfaces. Further, some risk of damage to an engine being repaired occurs when a piston rod end protrudes from the engine block.
The present invention concerns a housing temporarily attachable to th block of an air cooled engine and serves to close the cylinder opening of the engine as well as enclose and support the outer end segment of a piston rod from which a piston has been removed.
The housing is adapted for temporary attachment to the engine block without alteration or modification of the block with a housing flange in surface abutment with the block wall to provide a seal against foreign matter. The housing may confine that portion of a piston rod normally housed by a cylinder now removed during engine maintenance or repair. The piston rod is free to move back and forth within the present housing during engine crank shaft rotation coincident with repair efforts. A portion of the housing serves as a guide for the rod end which may be fitted with the wrist pin or preferably a substitute wrist pin. A housing mounted flange has a series of springs for cap screws with some of the openings oblong to accommodate a range of air cooled engines with blocks having different bolt patterns.
Important objectives of the present invention include the provision of a housing readily attachable and detachable from an engine block to close the cylinder bore of the block against entry of foreign matter; the provision of a housing of a length to permit reciprocation of a piston rod during cranking of an engine during engine repair while protecting the piston rod from foreign matter; the provision of a housing having a face plate or flange abuttable with the engine block and defining fastener receiving openings, some of which are of other than circular shape to permit utilizing of the present housing on engine blocks having different bolt receiving patterns.